


As It Should Be

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Foxtrot [57]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, The Dollhouse - Fandom, Thoughtcrimes (2003)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-26 20:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6254107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney and John returned to Atlantis to retire; Teyla's musings on John for the <a class="i-ljuser-profile" href="http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/profile"><img class="i-ljuser-userhead"/></a><a class="i-ljuser-username" href="http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/">comment_fic</a> prompt: "Stargate Atlantis, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, retiring in the Pegasus galaxy". Featuring John's imprints running rampant, the next generation of the Atlantis Expedition (Elizabeth Meredith Emmagan!), and cured!Wraith. Set far post-series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As It Should Be

No one was surprised that John and Rodney chose to retire on Atlantis back in the Pegasus Galaxy. What surprised Teyla and Ronon when John and Rodney arrived in the gate room in Atlantis was that Joe and Evan were not with them.

"It's okay," John said. "They'll survive without us. They're fully-grown adults, you know."

John hadn't been exactly young the first time Teyla met him, and after his six months behind the time dilation field Teyla had been surprised to see shots of silver in his beard, but to see him now, still as lean and tall and strong but with his hair more silver than black, with deep lines around his eyes and mouth, was a little surreal.

She must have been silent too long, because John added, "Rodney and I are adults too, by the way."

She smiled and stepped in, pressed her forehead to his, and they shared a breath. "Welcome home, John, Rodney."

"Thanks," Rodney said, and then swore in Czech. "Is that Torren? When did he get so tall?"

Torren waved from beside Ronon, who he almost matched in height.

"When we weren't looking," John said.

"Welcome back to Pegasus," Ronon said. He dragged John and Rodney into rib-cracking hugs, thumped John on the back affectionately.

"It's good to be home." Rodney hefted his duffel bag full of clothes. "Where are we living these days?"

"We will show you," Teyla said. She watched John and Rodney as they walked through the halls of Atlantis. John did a double-take when he saw Jinto and Wex leading a regiment of Lantean Guards. They'd trained with the permanent Earth military contingent before breaking away and forming their own city guard.

"Cassie Fraiser's the CMO of the military contingent," Ronon said. "Beckett trained her."

"Sam's kept us up to date on how Cassie's doing," Rodney said. "I'm sure any child of Janet and Samantha's is brilliant."

"She's dating Radek's son," Ronon added.

John barked a laugh. "Their kids are going to rule the universe."

"Indeed." Teyla smiled.

John and Rodney's quarters were near John's old quarters, but it was a larger space, suitable for at least two people, with an extra-large bed and additional bookshelves and two desks for their use.

"How do you plan to enjoy your retirement?" Teyla asked. She, too, was officially retired, but she occasionally trained the Lantean Guard and Earth Military Contingent with bantos rods or assisted in negotiations and treaty renewals.

Ronon and Amelia were also involved in much of the combat training for the locals.

"I think I'll try fishing, finally," Rodney said.

He and John both went silent and still at the memory of Carson's death.

"And I think I'd like to explore the city," John said. "You've rebuilt so much of it. I haven't kept up with all you've unlocked. I always wondered what Atlantis looked like in her glory days, and now I get the chance to find out."

"Have fun," Ronon said. He smirked. "Be careful."

John reached out, placed a hand against the wall, and he tipped his head back and closed his eyes, smiled. "Atlantis won't let me get hurt."

Teyla had forgotten, after John's long absence – though he and Rodney had visited frequently – about John's close connection with Atlantis, a connection that had not been duplicated since Atlantis had first returned to Pegasus without him.

"We'll let you get settled in," Teyla said, "and then we would be most pleased if you would join us for dinner. Ronon has turned into quite the cook."

"Nowhere near as good as Evan." Ronon ducked his head and looked oddly bashful.

"Excellent," Rodney said. "We'd love to join you. We didn't bring much. The rest of our belongings will be arriving the next time an earth ship comes by."

Dinner that night was wonderful, with Kanaan, Torren, Elizabeth Meredith (Lizzy Mare), Ronon, Amelia, and their daughter Samantha (Sammi). The food was delicious, and they all traded stories about how things had been for them in their respective galaxies.

John and Rodney established their own routine on Atlantis easily. Teyla didn't know much about it, although they made a point to have a meal together once a week, rotating which couple hosted the meal. Apparently John had learned some cooking skills from Evan.

But as the weeks passed, Teyla started to hear rumors. About John Sheppard, who the Wraith called Guide, gathering the children together on some evenings when their parents wished for time alone and reciting epic poems to them about the adventures of Harry Potter, a Tau'ri wizard who went to a magical school. Some of the older children spoke of Dr. McKay who, if sufficiently bribed with a brownie or other non-citrus treat, would show them how to build a miniature inter-dimensional bridge so they could see glimpses of their alternate-dimension selves. Some of the Lantean Guard reported strange music late at night, and when Jinto and Wex went to investigate, they returned with a brief report that John was sitting on the balcony with his old guitar, singing to Atlantis. When Teyla went off-world for a treaty negotiation, one of the younger members of the party offered up a suggestion to entice the locals onto common ground, a suggestion Teyla had never heard before, and in further conversation, learned that someone named Julian, who was a lawyer like the late Richard Woolsey had been, had suggested it when asked.

Lizzy Mare returned from a day of child-care and said that the children were playing a new game called 'NSA' that involved 'fighting bad guys' and solving crimes by 'reading people's minds' and that when questioned, they'd learned the game after listening to tales from a man named Brendan, who had been a Tau'ri crime fighter in his youth. Sammi told her parents that Dr. McKay was teaching her how to build a miniature gate, that he'd learned the technology from Samantha Carter, her namesake, and that Samantha Carter had learned it from an Ancestor named Orlin.

So one day Teyla abandoned her regular routine, and she headed to control to talk to Alexej Zelenka, who ran the control panel.

"Where is John?" she asked. Even though many children in the Pegasus Galaxy had been named after the Tau'ri heroes, Alexej didn't need to ask who she meant. He checked the master life signs detector and gave her the coordinates.

Teyla headed to the nearest transporter, programmed in her destination for the eastern piers, and then she walked. There was a thriving market along the eastern piers every third day, so there were many crowds, but people moved aside respectfully for Teyla to pass. She found John easily enough. He was at the very end of one of the piers, seated on an old crate, children gathered at his feet. When he told a story, he did not merely recite the words, but he inflected each voice with its own pitch and rhythm, and the children were enthralled. Teyla had been very surprised the first time John demonstrated this imprint skill of his, able to recite pages and pages of text from memory with barely any effort. Rodney and Radek had plied him with technical manuals and coffee for a week straight so he could help repair the city and send it back to Pegasus. That he now used his skill for this was a pleasant surprise.

John noticed her, caught her gaze and flashed her his trademark little smile without missing a beat, and concluded the scene he was reciting. The children let out a chorus of disappointment.

"But Guide!" A tiny, pale Wraith child tugged on John's trouser leg. "What happens to Harry next?"

"You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" John ruffled the child's hair and rose up. "Till then, kiddos." The children raised a chorus of mingled disappointment and thanks, and John picked his way through their ranks carefully to greet Teyla.

"So," she said, "this is what you're doing with your retirement."

"A little of this, and a little of that." John shrugged.

"You look happy," Teyla said.

"I am. This is home."

"I am glad." Teyla smiled at him. "Would you like to have lunch with me?"

"I'd like that very much."

People greeted John as they passed, and he smiled and greeted them by name in return. The John Teyla had first met hadn't had such a facility with names, but then he and the others in him had grown over the years. He ended up taking her to a stall that sold delightful pastries, which the proprietor traded to him in exchange for dance lessons for his daughter from Traci later, and they ate while they walked through the market.

Afterwards, Teyla returned to the rest of her regular routine, and when new rumors reached her ears, of someone named Songwriter teaching some of the younger children to sing, or of Dr. McKay helping a gang of unruly youth restore an old puddle jumper, she simply smiled and knew they were true, and everything in Atlantis was as it should be.


End file.
